Laker girls fend of Scots, fall to No. 11 Crusaders

The Lake Oswego girls basketball team's season came to an end on Tuesday with a tough 55-25 loss to No. 11 Jesuit.

The Crusaders played lockdown defense all evening and the Lakers never found a rhythm on offense, struggling from the field in the first round of the playoffs.

Lake Oswego was held to single digits in each quarter and trailed 37-13 at the half.

Jesuit meanwhile succeeded in getting to the foul line and shot the ball very well in dispatching Lake Oswego.

The game followed a harrowing play-in victory over David Douglas last week.

The Lakers seemed to have the game locked up, holding a 17-point lead early in the third quarter but the Scots roared back, closing the gap to three points in the final minute before Lake Oswego put them away 41-36.

Lake Oswego opened the game on a 9-0 run but turnovers allowed David Douglas to stay close.

The Scots hit three three-pointers in the first quarter and only trailed 12-9.

Lake Oswego opened things up in the second period. Alison Binns knocked down her third three-pointer of the game to start the quarter and also had three steals in the period as she frustrated David Douglas in its half-court offense.

The Lakers opened the period on an 11-0 run.

Lindsay Shallman also started to find success in the paint with 10 first-half points.

Lake Oswego had a sizeable height advantage in the game. David Douglas struggled to find any success from close to the basket, only hitting one two-point field goal in the entire first half.

"We knew they could shoot the ball well, especially on their home court," Laker coach Joe Williamson said.

Shallman didn't make things easy for the Scots either with six blocks in the contest.

At the end of the half, Lake Oswego had built a 29-14 lead.

But David Douglas wasn't finished. The Scots hit two more three-pointers early in the second half and started doing a better job on the boards.

David Douglas cut the lead to six points before Marlee Chovich answered with a strong drive to the basket making it 35-27 with one period to play.

The Scots hit another three-pointer to open the fourth quarter, making it a five-point game and giving themselves confidence.

"I felt like we started protecting the lead and that took away from our aggressiveness. It's been awhile since we've had a big lead at halftime so we had to relearn some things," Williamson said.

Binns would score another clutch hoop for the Lakers to keep the Scots at bay but, despite being slightly undersized, David Douglas continued to win the rebounding battle.

The Lakers slowed the game down to preserve their lead but missed the front end of two one-and-one free throw attempts.

Fortunately for Lake Oswego, David Douglas had similar struggles from the foul line.

The lead was cut to 39-36 in the final minute but Binns and Amber Swayne each hit a free throw and David Douglas couldn't knock down a late shot to narrow the gap further.

Lake Oswego graduates five key seniors this year but has young talent that the team hopes will fill the gaps.